So Nathan just ripped through the neighbour's roses that are between our two houses with the sheers. I'm really fucking pissed right now, he took out a pile of the buds about the bloom and in past experience roses cut back like that just go crazy with foliage. I've been pruning the old canes out of them for the last few years to try to get something that looks like a presentable hedge, but apparently he didn't care for it.

Those of you who have never had to deal with a rose hedge probably don't understand how painful an experience it is to work with. The fucker doesn't even care that I'm upset. Asshole.

So Nathan just ripped through the neighbour's roses that are between our two houses with the sheers. I'm really fucking pissed right now, he took out a pile of the buds about the bloom and in past experience roses cut back like that just go crazy with foliage. I've been pruning the old canes out of them for the last few years to try to get something that looks like a presentable hedge, but apparently he didn't care for it.

Those of you who have never had to deal with a rose hedge probably don't understand how painful an experience it is to work with. The fucker doesn't even care that I'm upset. Asshole.

Planted tomatoes, onions, and peppers today. I got a bunch of russian heirloom varieties for their cold resistance. (In mother russia, Tomato plants you!) Waterwalls are a pain in the balls to fill. My end goal is to be able to make a kickass chili from our community plot, and I put in 4 jalapeno plants, 2 anaheims, a "salsa pepper" of dubious origins, and bell peppers. Should have enough onions and garlic to bludgeon a cat when I am done.

Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to plant a 10x15' three sisters garden. I've got a shitload of squash seeds, and some other heirloom corn and beans. We're probably going to move to a place a bit out of town that has also offered us garden space. Prepare for the vegetapocalypse!

Sounds awesome! Now you just need to shoot an elk this fall for the best chili ever.

I gambled and put in my tomatoes early. If the neighbor who's looking after my place this weekend doesn't kill them, I think it'll be a big win, and we'll have tomatoes by the beginning of August.

In the meantime, I'm in Maine - planning to hit Otter Cliffs to get in as many routes as possible for the one day I get to climb while visiting the in-laws here. It finally stopped raining here (knock on wood) and was nice today. Supposed to be better tomorrow. Looking forward to it - haven't been here in ages, and remember liking the climbing in Acadia.

Gud thymes back at the NRG. Was insanely low humidity and temps this weekend; summer day length, with fall conditions, I've never seen anything like it! Did a mileage day at Endless Wall, which I was worried about, doing techy feet with the LisPaul. Wound up doing pretty well, and several Endless 12a's felt easy!

SUnday we did the Lake, and it was a gumby shitshow. I took a pic of the dozens of n00bs crowded about the base of the cliff, and then posted it to facespace and tagged every hard climber in Fayetteville in the pic. Went over to the Colosseum, nobody was there, and so I ran up a few lines, and one hung the sort-of-prodge.

Also, many beers were dranksed, fireworks shot off, and we all fell asleep in the middle of Django Unchained.

Planted tomatoes, onions, and peppers today. I got a bunch of russian heirloom varieties for their cold resistance. (In mother russia, Tomato plants you!) Waterwalls are a pain in the balls to fill. My end goal is to be able to make a kickass chili from our community plot, and I put in 4 jalapeno plants, 2 anaheims, a "salsa pepper" of dubious origins, and bell peppers. Should have enough onions and garlic to bludgeon a cat when I am done.

Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to plant a 10x15' three sisters garden. I've got a shitload of squash seeds, and some other heirloom corn and beans. We're probably going to move to a place a bit out of town that has also offered us garden space. Prepare for the vegetapocalypse!

Awesome! Did you get Black Krym tomatoes? (that's one of the heirloom Russian varieties I have seen around here)

It's been really chilly and wet here the last few days, definitely not garden-planting time yet. I am jealous! (and baking break in the meantime)

No black kryms. I got some Belii Nalivs, some russian reds, some polar babies(alaska), and some extreme northern with a russian name I can't remember.

Weird, I would have said that Belii Naliv is an apple, and not a tomato. (Well, i KNOW it's an apple variety, but I suppose there could be a tomato variety with the same name. It better be pale-whitish-yellow!)

So Nathan just ripped through the neighbour's roses that are between our two houses with the sheers. I'm really fucking pissed right now, he took out a pile of the buds about the bloom and in past experience roses cut back like that just go crazy with foliage. I've been pruning the old canes out of them for the last few years to try to get something that looks like a presentable hedge, but apparently he didn't care for it.

Those of you who have never had to deal with a rose hedge probably don't understand how painful an experience it is to work with. The fucker doesn't even care that I'm upset. Asshole.

Oh nOEZ! No seriously, oh noez!

Heffe has rose bushes that produce mostly foliage. When they bloom, they are awesome, but he gets critters who eat the buds and essentially create the same effect as Nathan did with his pruners.

Gud thymes back at the NRG. Was insanely low humidity and temps this weekend; summer day length, with fall conditions, I've never seen anything like it! Did a mileage day at Endless Wall, which I was worried about, doing techy feet with the LisPaul. Wound up doing pretty well, and several Endless 12a's felt easy!

SUnday we did the Lake, and it was a gumby shitshow. I took a pic of the dozens of n00bs crowded about the base of the cliff, and then posted it to facespace and tagged every hard climber in Fayetteville in the pic. Went over to the Colosseum, nobody was there, and so I ran up a few lines, and one hung the sort-of-prodge.

Also, many beers were dranksed, fireworks shot off, and we all fell asleep in the middle of Django Unchained.

I noticed that all the hard climbers in Fayetteville have untagged themselves from that "perforated bovine" shit-show.

I dunno why you insist on going to places like that. We had an awesome weekend at the Red.

On Sunday Sh@un and I climbed at the new zoo and had the place for ourselves, except when Ray and Jeff came by and FA'd one of the new 12c's.

Three of the four 11's at the wall are absolutely stellar, long (9-11 bolts + anchors, and we are not talking Muir-valley spaced) and tough for the grade. The 12a is balls-hard. Honey Badger shut down Sh@un, despite being only 12c and all. He couldn't figure out the crux move even after coming back down to it after clipping the bolt above, supposedly requires some mad body tension. I have a sneaking suspicion that the newly-FA'd "12c" is hugely sandbagged, too.

And then there was the 12b that Shaun did at the end of the day, when I was completely wiped out, which he pronounced the best climb of the grade that he has ever climbed. Seems to have really powerful moves on it. I'd like to try it.

Today was Chocolate Factory. Other than passing by a short section of the wall that had 5.9 and 5.10a with a small crowd of people, we had the place pretty much all to ourselves.

I'm pretty proud of myself for onsighting Climactic Crush. Only 5.11b, but holly molly guacamole! It was long and hard. I came down from it shaking with all sort of emotions, and cursing tall bolters for good measure (did use the frog on one bolt) , but no tears, unless you count the tears of joy that make eyes sparkle and all. Then I heard two passer-by's pointing at the route and saying, yeah, that's 11b there, climactic Crush, more like 12a, really. It isn't, maybe 11c, at most, but it felt good to hear.

Planted tomatoes, onions, and peppers today. I got a bunch of russian heirloom varieties for their cold resistance. (In mother russia, Tomato plants you!) Waterwalls are a pain in the balls to fill. My end goal is to be able to make a kickass chili from our community plot, and I put in 4 jalapeno plants, 2 anaheims, a "salsa pepper" of dubious origins, and bell peppers. Should have enough onions and garlic to bludgeon a cat when I am done.

Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to plant a 10x15' three sisters garden. I've got a shitload of squash seeds, and some other heirloom corn and beans. We're probably going to move to a place a bit out of town that has also offered us garden space. Prepare for the vegetapocalypse!

Sounds awesome! Now you just need to shoot an elk this fall for the best chili ever.

I gambled and put in my tomatoes early. If the neighbor who's looking after my place this weekend doesn't kill them, I think it'll be a big win, and we'll have tomatoes by the beginning of August.

In the meantime, I'm in Maine - planning to hit Otter Cliffs to get in as many routes as possible for the one day I get to climb while visiting the in-laws here. It finally stopped raining here (knock on wood) and was nice today. Supposed to be better tomorrow. Looking forward to it - haven't been here in ages, and remember liking the climbing in Acadia.

GO

The soil here is shit. I need to rent a rototiller before I can put the beds in.

That said, I built some bitchin' beds for the new place, these things are tanks with integrated soaker hoses and place to set a cold frame...we're talking luxe suburban gardening, y'all.

Planted tomatoes, onions, and peppers today. I got a bunch of russian heirloom varieties for their cold resistance. (In mother russia, Tomato plants you!) Waterwalls are a pain in the balls to fill. My end goal is to be able to make a kickass chili from our community plot, and I put in 4 jalapeno plants, 2 anaheims, a "salsa pepper" of dubious origins, and bell peppers. Should have enough onions and garlic to bludgeon a cat when I am done.

Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to plant a 10x15' three sisters garden. I've got a shitload of squash seeds, and some other heirloom corn and beans. We're probably going to move to a place a bit out of town that has also offered us garden space. Prepare for the vegetapocalypse!

Sounds awesome! Now you just need to shoot an elk this fall for the best chili ever.

I gambled and put in my tomatoes early. If the neighbor who's looking after my place this weekend doesn't kill them, I think it'll be a big win, and we'll have tomatoes by the beginning of August.

In the meantime, I'm in Maine - planning to hit Otter Cliffs to get in as many routes as possible for the one day I get to climb while visiting the in-laws here. It finally stopped raining here (knock on wood) and was nice today. Supposed to be better tomorrow. Looking forward to it - haven't been here in ages, and remember liking the climbing in Acadia.

GO

The soil here is shit. I need to rent a rototiller before I can put the beds in.

That said, I built some bitchin' beds for the new place, these things are tanks with integrated soaker hoses and place to set a cold frame...we're talking luxe suburban gardening, y'all.

I want! But it has to fight with a lot of other things on the priority list.

So Nathan just ripped through the neighbour's roses that are between our two houses with the sheers. I'm really fucking pissed right now, he took out a pile of the buds about the bloom and in past experience roses cut back like that just go crazy with foliage. I've been pruning the old canes out of them for the last few years to try to get something that looks like a presentable hedge, but apparently he didn't care for it.

Those of you who have never had to deal with a rose hedge probably don't understand how painful an experience it is to work with. The fucker doesn't even care that I'm upset. Asshole.

Oh nOEZ! No seriously, oh noez!

Heffe has rose bushes that produce mostly foliage. When they bloom, they are awesome, but he gets critters who eat the buds and essentially create the same effect as Nathan did with his pruners.

Roses are weird. I was prunning all wrong until my Aunt explained it to me. In my own yard I have kept only a red rose and a peach rose because they're a bit of a pain in the ass. The red rose looks like it's finally going to bloom properly this year though.

Gud thymes back at the NRG. Was insanely low humidity and temps this weekend; summer day length, with fall conditions, I've never seen anything like it! Did a mileage day at Endless Wall, which I was worried about, doing techy feet with the LisPaul. Wound up doing pretty well, and several Endless 12a's felt easy!

SUnday we did the Lake, and it was a gumby shitshow. I took a pic of the dozens of n00bs crowded about the base of the cliff, and then posted it to facespace and tagged every hard climber in Fayetteville in the pic. Went over to the Colosseum, nobody was there, and so I ran up a few lines, and one hung the sort-of-prodge.

Also, many beers were dranksed, fireworks shot off, and we all fell asleep in the middle of Django Unchained.

I noticed that all the hard climbers in Fayetteville have untagged themselves from that "perforated bovine" shit-show.

I dunno why you insist on going to places like that. We had an awesome weekend at the Red.

On Sunday Sh@un and I climbed at the new zoo and had the place for ourselves, except when Ray and Jeff came by and FA'd one of the new 12c's.

Three of the four 11's at the wall are absolutely stellar, long (9-11 bolts + anchors, and we are not talking Muir-valley spaced) and tough for the grade. The 12a is balls-hard. Honey Badger shut down Sh@un, despite being only 12c and all. He couldn't figure out the crux move even after coming back down to it after clipping the bolt above, supposedly requires some mad body tension. I have a sneaking suspicion that the newly-FA'd "12c" is hugely sandbagged, too.

And then there was the 12b that Shaun did at the end of the day, when I was completely wiped out, which he pronounced the best climb of the grade that he has ever climbed. Seems to have really powerful moves on it. I'd like to try it.

Today was Chocolate Factory. Other than passing by a short section of the wall that had 5.9 and 5.10a with a small crowd of people, we had the place pretty much all to ourselves.

I'm pretty proud of myself for onsighting Climactic Crush. Only 5.11b, but holly molly guacamole! It was long and hard. I came down from it shaking with all sort of emotions, and cursing tall bolters for good measure (did use the frog on one bolt) , but no tears, unless you count the tears of joy that make eyes sparkle and all. Then I heard two passer-by's pointing at the route and saying, yeah, that's 11b there, climactic Crush, more like 12a, really. It isn't, maybe 11c, at most, but it felt good to hear.

I find the bolting at the Red to often be tricky. Great if the draws are already pre hung, but I've been on a bunch of routes where it would have been a lot hander if you had to hang the draws while trying to send.

Gud thymes back at the NRG. Was insanely low humidity and temps this weekend; summer day length, with fall conditions, I've never seen anything like it! Did a mileage day at Endless Wall, which I was worried about, doing techy feet with the LisPaul. Wound up doing pretty well, and several Endless 12a's felt easy!

SUnday we did the Lake, and it was a gumby shitshow. I took a pic of the dozens of n00bs crowded about the base of the cliff, and then posted it to facespace and tagged every hard climber in Fayetteville in the pic. Went over to the Colosseum, nobody was there, and so I ran up a few lines, and one hung the sort-of-prodge.

Also, many beers were dranksed, fireworks shot off, and we all fell asleep in the middle of Django Unchained.

I noticed that all the hard climbers in Fayetteville have untagged themselves from that "perforated bovine" shit-show.

I dunno why you insist on going to places like that. We had an awesome weekend at the Red.

On Sunday Sh@un and I climbed at the new zoo and had the place for ourselves, except when Ray and Jeff came by and FA'd one of the new 12c's.

Three of the four 11's at the wall are absolutely stellar, long (9-11 bolts + anchors, and we are not talking Muir-valley spaced) and tough for the grade. The 12a is balls-hard. Honey Badger shut down Sh@un, despite being only 12c and all. He couldn't figure out the crux move even after coming back down to it after clipping the bolt above, supposedly requires some mad body tension. I have a sneaking suspicion that the newly-FA'd "12c" is hugely sandbagged, too.

And then there was the 12b that Shaun did at the end of the day, when I was completely wiped out, which he pronounced the best climb of the grade that he has ever climbed. Seems to have really powerful moves on it. I'd like to try it.

Today was Chocolate Factory. Other than passing by a short section of the wall that had 5.9 and 5.10a with a small crowd of people, we had the place pretty much all to ourselves.

I'm pretty proud of myself for onsighting Climactic Crush. Only 5.11b, but holly molly guacamole! It was long and hard. I came down from it shaking with all sort of emotions, and cursing tall bolters for good measure (did use the frog on one bolt) , but no tears, unless you count the tears of joy that make eyes sparkle and all. Then I heard two passer-by's pointing at the route and saying, yeah, that's 11b there, climactic Crush, more like 12a, really. It isn't, maybe 11c, at most, but it felt good to hear.

Actually, we did not climb at O.O. Spencer, Gif, Galen, and a few others wanted to start over there, and so I ran the gauntlet to get there, just to take a few photos. And yes, very crowded. Didn't ruin any of my pans, though. Mel'n'Tim were down, too, and they kept asking me what the good crags that would have non-crowded, closely bolted 9s and 10s were. I just laffed. Did do my first tard leads since the injury, though; put up a few 10s for them at Bridge.

Gud thymes back at the NRG. Was insanely low humidity and temps this weekend; summer day length, with fall conditions, I've never seen anything like it! Did a mileage day at Endless Wall, which I was worried about, doing techy feet with the LisPaul. Wound up doing pretty well, and several Endless 12a's felt easy!

SUnday we did the Lake, and it was a gumby shitshow. I took a pic of the dozens of n00bs crowded about the base of the cliff, and then posted it to facespace and tagged every hard climber in Fayetteville in the pic. Went over to the Colosseum, nobody was there, and so I ran up a few lines, and one hung the sort-of-prodge.

Also, many beers were dranksed, fireworks shot off, and we all fell asleep in the middle of Django Unchained.

I noticed that all the hard climbers in Fayetteville have untagged themselves from that "perforated bovine" shit-show.

I dunno why you insist on going to places like that. We had an awesome weekend at the Red.

On Sunday Sh@un and I climbed at the new zoo and had the place for ourselves, except when Ray and Jeff came by and FA'd one of the new 12c's.

Three of the four 11's at the wall are absolutely stellar, long (9-11 bolts + anchors, and we are not talking Muir-valley spaced) and tough for the grade. The 12a is balls-hard. Honey Badger shut down Sh@un, despite being only 12c and all. He couldn't figure out the crux move even after coming back down to it after clipping the bolt above, supposedly requires some mad body tension. I have a sneaking suspicion that the newly-FA'd "12c" is hugely sandbagged, too.

And then there was the 12b that Shaun did at the end of the day, when I was completely wiped out, which he pronounced the best climb of the grade that he has ever climbed. Seems to have really powerful moves on it. I'd like to try it.

Today was Chocolate Factory. Other than passing by a short section of the wall that had 5.9 and 5.10a with a small crowd of people, we had the place pretty much all to ourselves.

I'm pretty proud of myself for onsighting Climactic Crush. Only 5.11b, but holly molly guacamole! It was long and hard. I came down from it shaking with all sort of emotions, and cursing tall bolters for good measure (did use the frog on one bolt) , but no tears, unless you count the tears of joy that make eyes sparkle and all. Then I heard two passer-by's pointing at the route and saying, yeah, that's 11b there, climactic Crush, more like 12a, really. It isn't, maybe 11c, at most, but it felt good to hear.

I find the bolting at the Red to often be tricky. Great if the draws are already pre hung, but I've been on a bunch of routes where it would have been a lot hander if you had to hang the draws while trying to send.

Hanging the draws while trying to send a grade that is a project for you is hard everywhere. But in terms of being able to actually REACH the bolt to hang the draws, Red is better than most places for me.

Had a good weekend out at cal dome. Did a ton of slab routes up to low .11. Did the War of the Walls, a truly badass crack route with lots of aesthetic and intriguing climbing. Splitters, features and funk.

I didn't get a pump all weekend, except in my calves and toes which are totally destroyed. Stood on a knob for about 15 minutes. One 5.9 mantle above me, a rusty 1/4" bolt 20' below, which would not have kept me from falling over a roof onto a slab even if it held.

Lots of fun. Got rained out monday around 1pm. Did some exploring and found some more granite. schweet!

Had a good weekend out at cal dome. Did a ton of slab routes up to low .11. Did the War of the Walls, a truly badass crack route with lots of aesthetic and intriguing climbing. Splitters, features and funk.

I didn't get a pump all weekend, except in my calves and toes which are totally destroyed. Stood on a knob for about 15 minutes. One 5.9 mantle above me, a rusty 1/4" bolt 20' below, which would not have kept me from falling over a roof onto a slab even if it held.

Lots of fun. Got rained out monday around 1pm. Did some exploring and found some more granite. schweet!